PM’s name not excluded from Panama Papers probe: Aitzaz

PPP senator says PM Nawaz’s name gets incorporated in the probe owing to investigation from his children

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Aitzaz Ahsan rejected on Friday media reports that joint opposition had agreed to remove Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s name from the terms of reference (TORs) for an inquiry into the Panama Papers scandal.

“The opposition stands by its demand of accountability from the prime minister and his family,” the PPP lawmaker, who is also a member of the TOR committee, told media men on Friday.



“The name of the prime minister gets incorporated in the probe owing to the investigation from his children Maryam and Hussain which is why the opposition has not stepped down from its demand of the accountability of the primer.”

Leaked documents from the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama last month showed the premier’s three children – sons, Hassan and Hussain, and his daughter, Maryam – owned at least three offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.

The joint opposition had entered into negotiations with the government with a primary demand that any investigations into the Panamagate scandal should start from the premier and his family who have been named in the trove of leaked documents about offshore companies formed in international tax havens.

However, the opposition on Thursday changed its position on the PM’s name maintaining that since Nawaz’s daughter was declared as a dependent of the premier and is named in the Panama Papers, the prime minister ultimately will be probed.



The financial scandal lately has seen the government and the opposition, mainly Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), organise mass rallies to garner public support for their respective stances.

Though the premier has written to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to form a judicial commission probing the leaks, the opposition has been insisting on mutually agreed terms of reference.